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Self-Disclosed Criminal Record

What is a criminal record?

Criminal record means a record of the person’s convictions whether within or outside the state or a record of any prosecutions pending against the person.

What must I declare?

You must declare all convictions/pending prosecutions (except “spent convictions” as defined by section 14A of National Vetting Bureau Acts).

A conviction qualifies as a “spent conviction” in the following circumstances:

  • All convictions in the District Court for Motoring offences which are more than 7 years old, subject to the proviso that spent convictions for dangerous driving are limited to a single conviction;
  • All convictions in the District Court for minor public order offences which are more than 7 years old;
  • Where a person has one, and only one, conviction (other than a motoring or public order offence) which resulted in a term of imprisonment of less than 12 months (or a fine) that conviction will also be spent after 7 years. This provision will apply to either a District Court or Circuit Court conviction.


Note: sexual offences or convictions in the central Criminal Court are not eligible to become spent convictions and must be disclosed. 

Note:you must disclose all convictions and pending prosecutions that have occurred within the last 7 years as they cannot qualify as being “spent”, regardless of what type of offence they are.

If you are in any doubt about whether something should be included, it is safest to mention it as non-disclosure may impact the outcome.

What other information is available?

Note some courses also require Health Screening.

Full regulations are included in the Student Garda Vetting Policy.
 See also are Relevant Offence Risk Assessment Policy which may apply even if you are not in a programme which requires vetting.


All offers of a place are subject to UCD's Terms and Conditions of Offer.
All students must comply with the (opens in a new window)general regulations of the university.

Please see also(opens in a new window) UCD's Fitness to Practise Policy 

Contact UCD Registry

University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 1555 | Location Map(opens in a new window)